The devastated family of a woman killed in an horrific car crash wept yesterday as the driver was cleared of causing her death by dangerous driving.

The parents and sister of twenty-six-year-old Rachel Scantlebury said they 'hated' Ilkley businessman Scott Dry and would never forgive him for his 'stupidity.'

In July 2004 Dry's speeding two-seater TVR Griffith 500 went out of control and smashed into a tree killing Miss Scantlebury who had been sitting on the lap of accountant John Oddy who broke numerous bones including his back, his pelvis and a leg.

Yesterday a jury at Bradford Crown Court unanimously found the 42-year-old not guilty of the most serious charge, convicting him instead of the lesser offence of careless driving.

Dry had three previous speeding offences on his licence.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC fined Dry £1,500 for careless driving and banned him from driving for a year.

Dry, of Westwood Mount, Ilkley, will also have to pay £500 towards the prosecution costs.

Speaking immediately after the verdict, Miss Scantlebury's distraught mother Gillian Scantlebury, 63, said: "I hate the man and will never forgive him. He is loathsome.

"I feel numb. He has basically been let-off. I am so upset by this. Everyone is crying and we just cannot believe he got away with it.

"He had three previous convictions for speeding and he knew what he was doing.

"Rachel's friend, John, was a passenger in the car and he is devastated by the verdict as we all are. And John was Dry's friend for several years.

"Dry has shown no remorse and is only concerned about himself and not what he has done to John Oddy, how his behaviour has affected us and how he has taken my daughter in his stupidity.

"I'm just devastated by it. We were a very close family and she was loved by so many people. Rachel was a very beautiful girl," added Mrs Scantlebury, who had travelled to Bradford with husband Glyn Scantlebury from their home in Majorca.

Educated at Moorfield School, Bradford Girls' Grammar and Ilkley Grammar, Rachel worked as an account manger for an information technology firm based in Leeds.

She carried out fundraising activities for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, including a parachute jump which raised £2,000.

Emerging from the courtroom in tears, Rachel's pregnant sister Claire Chapman said she hoped Dry would 'rot in hell.'"He just doesn't care," she added.

Mr Oddy, who is still on crutches two years after the crash, said: "I'm shattered by the verdict."

He recalled in a statement: "I felt an enormous jolt to my left and realised we had crashed into something.

"After that I can remember Rachel was still lying in my arms but she was not answering me."

Dry's barrister Andrew Stubbs had told the court there were never any winners in such cases and his client wanted him to repeat the expressions of remorse he had offered during the trial.

Passing sentence Judge Marson told Dry: "It is clear that that night you were driving in excess of the speed limit at a time when you already had three convictions on your licence for exceeding the speed limit.

"Your actions in permitting Rachel to be a passenger in your motor car whilst sitting on Mr Oddy's knee beggars belief.

"It must have been obvious to you that that was an unsatisfactory state of affairs even though you only had to travel a short distance home and it is clear that you were exceeding the speed limit in a residential area.

"It was a road that you had driven before and if you didn't know, you ought well to have known, that the speed limit was 30mph."

Judge Marson noted that the careless driving conviction did not involve any direct criminal responsibility for the consequences of it and it did not carry a sentence of imprisonment.

"But your counsel quite properly says there are no winners in a case like this. There are only tragic losers," added Judge Marson. "I'm entirely satisfied that the consequences of your actions that night will live with you forever, as indeed they should.

"In assessing the appropriate level of fine I can't stress too strongly that this is not in any way a measure of anyone's life for there can never be such a measure."

Miss Scantlebury, who had raised funds for charity and was to go on a holiday the next day in Majorca, suffered fatal injuries during the crash at the junction of Princess Road and Queens Road.

During Dry's trial it emerged that Miss Scantlebury, of Parish Ghyll Drive, Ilkley, had been sitting on Mr Oddy's knee when Dry set off on the short journey back to his home.

After the jury returned their verdicts prosecutor Ian Howard revealed that Dry, who was described by his barrister as a successful businessman, had 11 points on his licence for three speeding offences at the time of the fatal crash.

Dry told the court that he believed the road he was using had a 40mph limit when in fact the limit was 30mph. A police accident investigator had estimated that the TVR may have been doing over 50mph when Dry lost control, but a defence expert had put forward a lower speed.